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What Is Motion Design? These Guys Already Know…

I stumbled across this video on my search for info on motion graphics. Produced by Kaprion Vision, a European motion graphics studio it’s not only a fantastic introduction to what motion graphics can be but is also a fantastic stab at a clear definition. It attempts to draw lines between motion design and animation and does so by saying that narrative is a key component featured in animation more than motion graphics.

Their other work is really fantastic too. In terms of style it’s a very diverse showreel, but this particular video really stood out, for obvious reasons.

Another really interesting thing it does it trace the roots of motion graphics. Instead of animation, whose roots lie in zoetropes and running horses, motion graphics roots go back to artists such as Len Lye, who took animation concepts and started adding design thinking to it, adding more definitive shapes and forms to moving pictures. Additionally they go back to the very first titles used in cinema as a potential starting point for motion graphics.

Thanks to this video they seem like people I could contact as part of my research. They’ve clearly already looked at motion graphics from an academic perspective, which is something I haven’t really seen before. They tackled it in a really nicely integrated miniature-documentary format, which suits the subject matter perfectly. If I was allowed I think it’d be the route I’d go down for my final submission! But alas, I have to stick with the written word. Never mind.

Courtesy of Kaprion Vision

Still, today I might tweet or e-mail them, asking if they’d be willing to help out with my research. I could additionally show them the interview I sent along to Elastic the other day and get another really great voice in on the debate. I might re-edit the interview first to be more all-encompassing and open to anybody willing to give an opinion. The issue with this would be having to re-shoot all of my questions. I’ll wait and see how the response is from Elastic before investing that kind of time in a new video iteration.